Richard A. Bajura, director of the National Research Center for Coal and Energy at West Virginia University, was invited to Washington, D.C. to present testimony about the new source performance standards for carbon dioxide emissions proposed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Bajura appeared on Oct. 29 before the Subcommittee on Environment and the Subcommittee on Energy of the Committee on Science, Space and Technology along with Charles McConnell, executive director, Energy & Environment Initiative, Rice University; Kurt Waltzer, managing director, The Clean Air Task Force; and Roger Martella, partner, Environmental Practice Group, Sidley Austin LLP.

The EPA’s proposed new source performance standards for carbon dioxide would limit emissions to 1,100 pounds per megawatt hour. A megawatt hour is equal to one million watts of electricity produced for one hour, or enough to light ten thousand 100-watt light bulbs for one hour.


To watch Bajura’s testimony, click here.


Commercial scale natural gas power plants meet this emissions limit, typically producing 1,000 pounds of carbon dioxide per megawatt hour. However, even the latest, commercially viable, coal-fired power plants cannot meet this requirement without carbon capture and sequestration. Bajura cited the John W. Turk power plant near Fulton, Ark., which was built with the latest coal technology. The ultra-supercritical coal combustion power plant started commercial operation in December 2012 and produces about 1,800 pounds of carbon dioxide per megawatt hour.

Bajura explained that carbon capture and sequestration technologies currently under development have not been sufficiently demonstrated yet. The new EPA standards could likely inhibit the development of new coal-fired power plants and consequently could make the development of new carbon capture and sequestration technologies very difficult.

“Investments in a strong research, development and demonstration program, coupled with a delayed phase-in of the standards proposed by EPA would provide improved opportunities for technologists to meet the challenges proposed to us by EPA to improve our environment and economic competitiveness through advanced coal technologies,” Bajura told the subcommittees.

Bajura’s full testimony is available at: http://science.house.gov/sites/republicans.science.house.gov/files/documents/HHRG-113-SY18-WState-RBajura-20131029_0.pdf

-WVU-

tkw/10/30/13

CONTACT: Trina Wafle, National Research Center for Coal and Energy
304.293.6038; 304.216.1610; tkwafle@mail.wvu.edu

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